Episode 1424: Dance With the Bat That Brought You
Date August 30, 2019 Summary Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about GPS, resisting the urge to take the bait on bad takes, and the debate about access for broadcasters who double as team personnel, answer listener emails about not replacing broken bats, earning/working walks, and players with underutilized skills, and close with a discussion of Félix Hernández’s future and some podcast metacommentary (plus a postscript about another unintended consequence of mercy rules). Topics * Ignoring bad baseball takes online * The value and problems with baseball Twitter * Conflicts with broadcasters as team personnel * If players could not replace broken bats mid at-bat * When a batter has earned or worked a count * Underutilized player skills * How often and why players share skills with each other * Felix Hernandez's latest starts and outlook for next season * Podcast reviews * Episode 1420 follow-up: Unintended consequences of a mercy rule Intro Tame Impala, "Be Above It" Outro Pete Townshend, "You're So Clever" Banter * Episode 1412 follow-up: Meg details another dream she had recently where she was back working at Goldman Sachs and had to play on the company softball team. * Episode 1422 follow-up: Meg (along with other listeners) contends that not all GPS are equal, much like each team has different analytics strategies and levels of acceptance among leadership. * Episode 1421 follow-up: Meg published her piece about the twelve minute continued game at Fenway Park. * Ben and Meg discuss the environment they need to write and the nature of working from home. Emails * Sean: "Watching the Indians game and Lindor chipped his bat on a foul ball and switched his bat out. And (I know this is dumb) but it made me think how much things would change in an AB if the batter could not get a new bat during his AB no matter what happened to his bat. (Think a hockey stick that breaks mid-play, the player usually finishes the play then gets a new stick) I just think it would be fun to see how players would try to use a dead/broken bat to their advantage and how the defense might play that particular situation. Obviously, a foul ball that saws off a bat would leave the hitter with just a handle for the rest of the pitches and would almost certainly result in a backwards K." * Chris: "During the 7th inning of a Blue Jays TV broadcast of Saturday’s game against the Mariners, Dan Shulman mentioned that Cavan Biggio had “earned his way to a 3-0 count.” Cavan is a prolific walker, but does not swinging at anything earn him his 3-0 count, or the four pitch walk that ensued? What are the standards that must be met for a batter to ‘earn’ a count?" * Daniel:' "'I often think about the premise that, if a baserunner has a successful steal percentage greater than 70%, then they should be stealing more often as this will increase overall expected runs. Where else could this idea - that too much success entails an under-utilization of a skill - be applied in baseball? For example, shouldn't this entail that, if a player is a top fielder at their position, they should inherently be playing a more difficult and important defensive position? While this may not be feasible for all players, e.g., the best defensive first basemen, shouldn't the top defensive second basement certainly be tested out at shortstop (assuming their skills still mostly translate)?" * Jeremy: "Question spurred by your recent discussion of Yu Darvish learning a knuckle-curve from Kimbrel: It seems there's a professional unwritten rule among baseball players to provide each other tips, feedback and coaching. Isn't this akin to revealing trade secrets that should be highly guarded? Aren't these players competing against one another for playing time, contracts and fame? I'm not referring to little tips about facing a particular pitcher, but I think I would be private about a big element like a new pitch. Don't get me wrong, I love it; but I'm surprised by how often this appears to happen." * Tim: "One item that was not discussed while going over the mercy rule is the potential negative effects of the unwritten rules. In high school there is a mercy rule of 10 runs and you get into some dicey situations when teams are leading by 8 or 9 and are going for the mercy rule to save pitching. Some coaches will still steal and keep their starters in, others will ‘call off the dogs’ a lot sooner, trying to keep the game going to get their backups some playing time. Lastly, when the mercy rule comes into effect to cause a ‘walkoff’ high school teams generally celebrate on a level between normal high fives and mosh pit at the plate. My guess is that Major League teams would not celebrate at all." Notes * Ben notes that one of the reasons it should be easier to ignore bad baseball takes online is because sabermetrically inclined writers have changed from 'punching up to punching down' in the analytics debate. * Meg is glad that Felix Hernandez's latest starts have not been embarrassing; she credits him for having a large impact on her Mariners fandom and career choice. * Ben reads a three-star review of the podcast that requested "less banter, more baseball". Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1424: Dance With the Bat That Brought You * Time Has Come Today by Meg Rowley * Broadcasters who also work for teams navigate a gray area by Marc Carig * Rate of Shattered Baseball Bats 50 Percent Less, Thanks to Major League Baseball and the U.S. Forest Service Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes